I am a relative new member to the club (only joined a few months ago) and I’m new to this triathlon lark.

This was only my 3^rd triathlon following the London tri and Crystal Palace and I have to say it was the most fun.

I ended up doing the sprint distance considering I had only done 3 swim sessions since the London Tri, I didn’t quite fancy doing the 1500m lake swim!

It was a great atmosphere and it was inspiring to watch the pro’s go off in the full distance. Richard Stannard was very impressive in the swim, coming out minutes quicker than second place. He looked like a full size action man figure (minus eagle eyes obviously!) bounding out of the lake and into transition.

I was a little worried about my swim due to the lack of sessions but got down to business and knocked off a minute from my 750m pb. Well chuffed with that. Next it was straight out onto the bike course which had a nice mix of technical single track, firetracks and short sharp climbs.  I ended up setting the 3^rd fastest bike split in the sprint which wasn’t bad considering 2 wrong turnings.

The run was tough for the first 2km of the 5km loop and I have to say I questioned what the hell I was doing. The jelly legs disappeared on the 3km and I started to find my stride and was pleased that I was getting faster towards the end. Another pb for a 5km in a sprint.

Overall I had a really great day, it was a tough course but I couldn’t help but have a big grin on my face at the finish. I will definitely be back next year. I have attached a pic of me on the bike. Not quite 7oaks tri kit yet but at least it’s the same colour!

Msen 15^th, 16^th overall out of 122.

SwimTim: 0:13:40.9 T1: 0:01:56:6, Bike 0:34:00, T2: 0:00:51.0, Run: 0:23:25.7 Total 1;13;55.0

Cheers

Steve